Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T05:06:02.491Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Time-on-Task in Children with ADHD: An ex-Gaussian Analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 June 2013

Vincenza Tarantino ,
Simone Cutini ,
Carla Mogentale  and
Patrizia Silvia Bisiacchi
Vincenza Tarantino*
Affiliation:
Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
Simone Cutini
Affiliation:
Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
Carla Mogentale
Affiliation:
Centro Phoenix di Psicologia, Neuropsicologia, Psicoterapia - Bassano del Grappa, Italy
Patrizia Silvia Bisiacchi
Affiliation:
Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to: Vincenza Tarantino, Department of General Psychology, Via Venezia, 8, 35131 Padua, Italy. E-mail: vincenza.tarantino@unipd.it
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Although it is widely known that high intra-individual variability (IIV) is a key characteristic of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a detailed exploration of the IIV pattern during the time course of a cognitive task has never been carried out. In this study, 30 children with ADHD and 30 controls, were administered the Conners’ Continuous Performance Task (CPT-II). The across-block individual performance of the groups was analyzed using an ex-Gaussian approach, which enabled a clearer understanding of how individual response times (RTs) fluctuate during a task in comparison with conventional measures of central tendency. While the conventional measures showed a significant group effect on mean RTs but similar RT trends across blocks between the two groups, the ex-Gaussian results revealed no actual differences between the two groups in the normally distributed component of mean RTs (mu). In contrast to the control group, the children with ADHD showed a steep increase in the exponentially distributed component of RTs (tau) across blocks, thereby indicating that extremely long RTs progressively increased soon after the beginning of the task. Taken together, the results demonstrated that sustained attention deficit in ADHD can be detected by analyzing the IIV in the first few task blocks. (JINS, 2013, 19, 1–9)

Keywords

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorderIntra-individual variabilitySustained attentionContinuous performance taskEx-Gaussian functionDevelopmental disorder
Type
Research Articles
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 19 , Issue 7 , August 2013 , pp. 820 - 828
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Achenbach, T.M. (1991). Manual for the child behavior checklist 4/18 and 1991 profile. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry.Google Scholar
American Psychiatry Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th edition-text revision) Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.Google Scholar
Barkley, R.A. (1997). Behavioral inhibition, sustained attention, and executive functions: Constructing a unifying theory of ADHD. Psychological Bulletin, 12, 65–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bellgrove, M.A., Hester, R., Garavan, H. (2004). The functional neuroanatomical correlates of response variability: Evidence from a response inhibition task. Neuropsychologia, 42, 1910–1916.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Benjamini, Y., Hochberg, Y. (1995). Controlling the false discovery rate: A practical and powerful approach to multiple testing. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series B (Methodological), 57, 298–300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biancardi, A., Nicoletti, C. (2004). BDE, Batteria per la valutazione della Discalculia Evolutiva. [Battery for the assessment of Dyscalculia]. Torino, Italy: Omega Edizioni.Google Scholar
Borella, E., de Ribaupierre, A., Cornoldi, C., Chicherio, C. (2012). Beyond interference control impairment in ADHD: Evidence from increased intraindividual variability in the color-Stroop test. Child Neuropsychology, [Epub ahead of print]. doi:10.1080/09297049.2012.696603.Google ScholarPubMed
Burbeck, S.L., Luce, R.D. (1982). Evidence from auditory simple reaction times for both change and level detectors. Perception & Psychophysics, 32, 117–133.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bush, G. (2010). Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and attention networks. Neuropsychopharmacology, 35, 278–300.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bush, G. (2011). Cingulate, frontal, and parietal cortical dysfunction in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Biological Psychiatry, 69, 1160–1167.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Buzy, W., Medoff, D.R., Schweitzer, J.B. (2009). Intra-individual variability among children with ADHD on a working memory task: An ex-Gaussian approach. Child Neuropsychology, 2, 1–19.Google Scholar
Castellanos, F.X., Sonuga-Barke, E.J., Milham, M.P., Tannock, R. (2006). Characterizing cognition in ADHD: Beyond executive dysfunction. Trends in Cognitive Science, 10, 117–123.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Castellanos, F.X., Sonuga-Barke, E.J., Scheres, A., Di Martino, A., Hyde, C., Walters, J.R. (2005). Varieties of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder-related intra-individual variability. Biological Psychiatry, 57, 1416–1423.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Castellanos, F.X., Tannock, R. (2002). Neuroscience of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: The search for endophenotypes. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 3, 617–628.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Conners, C.K., MHS, Staff. (Eds.) (2000). Conners’ Continuous Performance Test II: Computer program for Windows technical guide and software manual. North Tonawanda, NY: Multi-Health Systems Inc.Google Scholar
Cornoldi, C., Colpo, G. (1998). Prove di lettura MT per la scuola elementare-2. [MT reading tests for primary school]. Florence, Italy: Organizzazioni Speciali.Google Scholar
Cornoldi, C., Gardinale, M., Masi, A., Pettenò, L. (1996). Impulsività e autocontrollo. [Impulsivity and Self-control]. Trento, Italy: Centro Studi Erickson.Google Scholar
Di Martino, A., Ghaffari, M., Curchack, J., Reiss, P., Hyde, C., Vannucci, M., Castellanos, F.X. (2008). Decomposing intra-subject variability in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Biological Psychiatry, 64, 607–614.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Douglas, V.I. (1999). Cognitive control processes in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. In H.C. Quay & A.E. Hogan (Eds.), Handbook of disruptive behavior disorders (pp. 105–138). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Epstein, J.N., Brinkman, W.B., Froehlich, T., Langberg, J.M., Narad, M.E., Antonini, T.N., Altaye, M. (2011). Effects of stimulant medication, incentives, and event rate on reaction time variability in children with ADHD. Neuropsychopharmacology, 36, 1060–1072.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Epstein, J.N., Conners, C.K., Hervey, A.S., Tonev, S.T., Arnold, L.E., Abikoff, H.B., Wigal, T.; MTA Cooperative Study Group (2006). Assessing medication effects in the MTA study using neuropsychological outcomes. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47, 446–456.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Epstein, J.N., Erkanli, A., Conners, C.K., Klaric, J., Costello, J.E., Angold, A. (2003). Relations between continuous performance test performance measures and ADHD behaviors. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 31, 543–554.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Epstein, J.N., Hwang, M.E., Antonini, T., Langberg, J.M., Altaye, M., Arnold, L.E. (2010). Examining predictors of reaction times in children with ADHD and normal controls. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 16, 138–147.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Epstein, J.N., Langberg, J.M., Rosen, P.J., Graham, A., Narad, M.E., Antonini, T.N., Altaye, M. (2011). Evidence for higher reaction time variability for children with ADHD on a range of cognitive tasks including reward and event rate manipulations. Neuropsychology, 25, 427–441.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fassbender, C., Zhang, H., Buzy, W.M., Cortes, C.R., Mizuiri, D., Beckett, L., Schweitzer, J.B. (2009). A lack of default network suppression is linked to increased distractibility in ADHD. Brain Research, 1273, 114–128.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frigerio, A., Cattaneo, C., Cataldo, M., Schiatti, A., Molteni, M., Battaglia, M. (2004). Behavioral and emotional problems among Italian children and adolescents aged 4 to 18 years as reported by parents and teachers. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 20, 124–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geurts, H.M., Grasman, R.P., Verte, S., Ooserlaan, J., Roeyers, H., van Kammen, S.M., Sergeant, J.A. (2008). Intra-individual variability in ADHD, autism spectrum disorders and Tourette's Syndrome. Neuropsychologia, 46, 3030–3041.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heathcote, A., Popiel, S.J., Mewhort, D.J.K. (1991). Analysis of response time distributions: An example using the Stroop task. Psychological Bulletin, 109, 340–347.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Helps, S.K., Broyd, S.J., Bitsakou, P., Sonuga-Barke, E.J. (2011). Identifying a distinctive familial frequency band in reaction time fluctuations in ADHD. Neuropsychology, 25, 711–719.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hervey, A., Epstein, J.N., Curry, J.F., Tonev, S., Arnold, L.E., Conners, C.K., Hechtman, L. (2006). Reaction time distribution analysis of neuropsychological performance in an ADHD sample. Child Neuropsychology, 12, 125–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hockley, W.E., Corballis, M.C. (1982). Test of serial scanning in item recognition. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 36, 189–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, K.A., Kelly, S.P., Bellgrove, M.A., Barry, E., Cox, M., Gill, M., Robertson, I.H. (2007). Response variability in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: Evidence for neuropsychological heterogeneity. Neuropsychologia, 45, 630–638.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kelly, A.M., Hester, R., Murphy, K., Javitt, D.C., Foxe, J.J., Garavan, H. (2004). Prefrontal-subcortical dissociations underlying inhibitory control revealed by event-related fMRI. European Journal of Neuroscience, 19, 3105–3112.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Klein, C., Wendling, K., Huettner, P., Ruder, H., Peper, M. (2006). Intra-subject variability in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Biological Psychiatry, 60, 1088–1097.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kuntsi, J., Oosterlaan, J., Stevenson, J. (2001). Psychological mechanisms in hyperactivity. I. Response inhibition deficit, working memory impairment, delay aversion, or something else? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 42, 199–210.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lacouture, Y., Cousineau, D. (2008). How to use MATLAB to fit the ex-Gaussian and other probability functions to a distribution of response times. Tutorials in Quantitative Methods for Psychology, 4, 35–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leth-Steensen, C., Elbaz, Z.K., Douglas, V.I. (2000). Mean response times, variability, and skew in the responding of ADHD children: A response time distributional approach. Acta Psychologica, 104, 167–190.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Luce, R.D. (1986). Response times: Their role in inferring elementary mental organization. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Manly, T., Owen, A.M., McAvinue, L., Datta, A., Lewis, G.H., Scott, S.K., Robertson, I.H. (2003). Enhancing the sensitivity of a sustained attention task to frontal damage: Convergent clinical and functional imaging evidence. Neurocase, 9, 340–349.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marzocchi, G.M., Re, A.M., Cornoldi, C. (2010). BIA: Batteria Italiana per l'ADHD. [Italian Battery for ADHD]. Trento, Italy: Centro Studi Erickson.Google Scholar
Nigg, J.T., Willcutt, E.G., Doyle, A.E., Sonuga-Barke, E.J. (2005). Causal heterogeneity in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: Do we need neuropsychologically impaired subtypes? Biological Psychiatry, 57, 1224–1230.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Orsini, A., Picone, L. (2006). WISC-III contributo alla taratura italiana [WISC-III contribution to the Italian standardization]. Florence, Italy: Organizzazioni Speciali.Google Scholar
Ratcliff, R., Murdock, B.B. (1976). Retrieval processes in recognition memory. Psychological Review, 83, 190–214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ridderinkhof, K.R. (2002). Activation and suppression in conflict tasks: Empirical clarification through distributional analyses. In W. Prinz & B. Hommel (Eds.), Common mechanisms in perception and action. Attention & performance, (Vol. XIX, pp. 494–519). Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sartori, G., Job, R., Tressoldi, P. (2009). Batteria per la valutazione della dislessia e della disortografia evolutiva. [Battery for the assessment of dyslexia and dysorthografy]. Florence, Italy: Organizzazioni Speciali.Google Scholar
Sergeant, J.A. (2005). Modeling attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A critical appraisal of the cognitive-energetic model. Biological Psychiatry, 57, 1248–1255.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sergeant, J.A., Geurts, H., Huijbregts, S., Scheres, A., Oosterlaan, J. (2003). The top and the bottom of ADHD: A neuropsychological perspective. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 27, 583–592.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sonuga-Barke, E.J., Castellanos, F.X. (2007). Spontaneous attentional fluctuations in impaired states and pathological conditions: A neurobiological hypothesis. Neuroscience Biobehavioral Reviews, 31, 977–986.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spencer, S.V., Hawk, L.W. Jr., Richards, J.B., Shiels, K., Pelham, W., Waxmonsky, J. (2009). Stimulant treatment reduces lapses in attention among children with ADHD: The effects of methylphenidate on intraindividual response time distributions. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 37, 805–816.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stuss, D.T., Murphy, K.J., Binns, M.A., Alexander, M.P. (2003). Staying on the job: The frontal lobes control individual performance variability. Brain, 126, 2363–8230.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tannock, R., Schachar, R., Logan, G. (1995). Methylphenidate and cognitive flexibility: Dissociated dose effects in hyperactive children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 23, 235–266.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Teicher, M.H., Lowen, S.B., Polcari, A., Foley, M., McGreenery, C.E. (2004). Novel strategy for the analysis of CPT data provides new insight into the effects of methylphenidate on attentional states in children with ADHD. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology, 14, 219–232.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tressoldi, P.E., Cornoldi, C. (1991). Batteria per la valutazione della scrittura e della competenza ortografica nella scuola dell'obbligo. [Battery for the assessment of writing skills of children from 7 to 13 years old]. Florence, Italy: Organizzazioni Speciali.Google Scholar
van der Meere, J., Shalev, R., Borger, N., Gross-Tsur, V. (1995). Sustained attention, activation and MPH in ADHD: A research note. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 36, 697–703.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van der Meere, J., Wekking, E., Sergeant, J.A. (1991). Sustained attention and pervasive hyperactivity. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 32, 275–284.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vaurio, R.G., Simmonds, D.J., Mostofsky, S.H. (2009). Increased intra-individual reaction time variability in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder across response inhibition tasks with different cognitive demands. Neuropsychologia, 47, 2389–2396.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wechsler, D. (1991). WISC-III: Wechsler intelligence scale for children. New York: The Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Weissman, D.H., Roberts, K.C., Visscher, K.M., Woldorff, M.G. (2006). The neural bases of momentary lapses in attention. Nature Neuroscience, 9, 971–978.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilkins, A.J., Shallice, T., McCarthy, R. (1987). Frontal lesions and sustained attention. Neuropsychologia, 25, 359–365.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Willcutt, E.G., Doyle, A.E., Nigg, J.T., Faraone, S.V., Pennington, B.F. (2005). Validity of the executive function theory of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A meta-analytic review. Biological Psychiatry, 57, 1336–1346.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed